


tongue tied over three words, cursed

by vindice



Series: there’s nothing holding me back [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Flowers, Fluff and Angst, Gardening, Language of Flowers, Multi, Not Canon Compliant, Some Humor, Will add as I go because that’s more fun, mostly linear narrative
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 22:00:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 3,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17589188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vindice/pseuds/vindice
Summary: Of flowers, stardust, and wild things.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Authorship](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Authorship/gifts).



> This was supposed to be a one shot but I’m 7k words in and I’m not even 1/3 done with what I really wanted to. I stressed a lot by the end of that 7th k when I saw I wasn't getting any closer to the end (never planned for it to be so long) but I’m having fun writing it tbh. So I thought, _fuck it_ , and now this turned into a snippet collection! And I’m gonna use it as a stress-relief! 
> 
> You’re lucky I’m posting this now, because it was originally supposed to be Angst-filled and more Hanahaki-esque than this semi slice of life something. Yay for all of you!
> 
> This was also supposed to be Ino-centric but somewhere along the way I “accidentally” gave Naruto a family, oh my. So, yeah, in this AU Ino meets Naruto instead of Sakura.
> 
> I’m posting the first three parts right now, since they’re pre-Academy time-wise. Then I’ll update whenever I remember to, because I’m a dumbass like that. Rating will change at some point, but we’ll worry when we cross that bridge.
> 
> Enjoy!

“I’m sorry I did this to you, my child,” Tsubaki murmurs to the baby in her arms, her voice echoing in the nursery room.

Ino is so small, and weighs less than a normal Yamanaka baby should, but Tsubaki has faith and knows deep in her very bones that her baby is a warrior. She’s the living image of her father, and the first time she opened her eyes they were so bright, reflecting the will of Tsubaki’s own people.

Ino’s an oak tree in her visions, all firm trunk and deep, loving roots.

“Whatever life has prepared for you, I know you’ll get through it,” she tells Ino with a warm, secretive smile, caressing her cheek. “You are made of the stars, and one day, you’ll find your way again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oak tree: strength, resistance; knowledge.  
> Tsubaki = Camellia: divine.  
>  
> 
> [ _chirps_ ] I hope you like it, Tulip!


	2. Chapter 2

Ino loved plants. It wasn’t just because her family owned a flower shop, though that certainly helped.

Her love for them ran deeper than that. It was in her blood, her heritage, her future and her past. Places, little occasions in time she kept close to her heart, nature bending for and at her will.

She had loved them ever since she was a little girl, barely walking, long before the academy was a thing she looked forward to. When Papa would sit with her in the grass after a long mission and run his fingers through her hair, weaving little blossoms through her locks and talking about each little seed they had in storage. They would stay outside for so long that they could see the sunset raining honey droplets of sunshine in the petals of the small wildflowers and their leaves.

There were times where Mama would pick her up in her arms and take her to the backyard in the middle of the night, when both of them couldn’t sleep, and she’d tell her stories about people that came a long way back in their family, people who were fated to host endless gardens within themselves like galaxies in the universe. Ino would stare wide eyed in both awe and fear, and mom would make her promise to never be one of them.

Times where her dad would hold her in his lap, and her mom would dry her tears after having woken up abruptly from a dream. Dreams of gorgeous belladonnas in her lungs and bramble in her ribs that hugged her from the inside out until _she couldn’t breathe–_

But Mama and Papa anchored her, reminded her that she wasn’t alone, that they loved her and they’d always be there for her. That the plants didn’t have to be her enemies, instead they were actually friends.

All she had to do was to embrace them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Belladona: silence.  
> Bramble: remorse.


	3. Chapter 3

Shikamaru and Chouji came in an array of Clan traditions and expectations.

Shika, who in her dreams he sighed but let her braid little oak-leaved geraniums into his hair, and Chouji with his sweet smile who complimented the crowns she made him from heather and fennel. Both, who always respected her love for the flora for what it was, never once insinuating it was to be expected from her kunoichi status, nor questioning her reasons or her warnings and visions.

These were the people she was going to share great part of her life with when they grew up. She was beyond grateful, because while they were still tentatively toeing around each other and testing, this was the beginning of what would undoubtedly become steadfast loyalty.

But for now, Ino put on a charming smile, internally pumping her fist in triumph when both boys blushed a little, and asked, “What’s your favorite flower?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oak-leaved geraniums: true friendship.  
> Heather: good luck.  
> Fennel: worthy of praise; strength.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw Tulip commenting how she’s liking it so far and that she’d wait for the next update and, listen. I am only a God with a soft spot

The Hokage Mountain was a great place for various reasons.

For starters, everyone knew that was where you went to get a full view of Konoha. There was also the part where you could see into the tower without anyone really noticing you unless they knew what to look for, which was cool because then she could see if Papa was going home early or if she could stay a little bit more to see part of the sunset before it got really dark.

She liked to go there when the weather wasn’t as suffocating as it could get in the Land of Fire, either early mornings when mom was out in the shop and dad worked the day shift, or in the afternoons when the sky was cloudy.

When mom took care of Yamanaka Flowers on her own and Ino could go early in the morning, she took her little satchel filled with food and drinks, and then sat there to relax until it was time to go home an hour or two before noon. Once she was done, she’d leave the half of the snacks she hadn’t eaten and the two water bottles she had to spare near some rocks close to where she sat, with a small bluebell she always pluck off of an arrangement from the flower shop in between them.

She pretended she didn’t see the blond hair peeking from the edge of the second staircase, and went home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bluebell: constancy.


	5. Chapter 5

Entering the Academy had made her appreciate plants even more, and she didn’t know that was possible.

The perimeter was filled with sweet acacias and nostalgic yarrows, flowering almonds and beautiful colchicums. Just outside the door to the classrooms hall tiny peppermints peppered the ground around the threshold. A strong plum tree stood near the end of the schoolyard, a lone swing tied from one of its branches.

She was going to become a ninja, while being surrounded by her people’s stardust.

Shika took one look at her face from where he was loitering in the hall, and huffed under his breath what she knew was his version of a defeated laugh at the moment. Chouji followed his gaze with raised eyebrows, expression turning into understanding when he saw her, and smiled softly at Ino’s excitement.

Stepping into Academy grounds had been for Ino what a candy store was for little kids.

She was in literal heaven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Acacia: friendship.  
> Yarrow; _Achillea Millefolia_ : war.  
> Flowering almond: hope.  
> Colchicum: “ _my best days are past._ ”  
> Peppermint: warmth; cordiality.  
> Plum tree: “ _keep your promise._ ”


	6. Chapter 6

The thing about Clan dynamics and confidentiality, she thought, was that civilians didn’t get it.

Granted, this one wasn’t really a Clan dynamic, nor was it related at all, since it came from her and mama’s people. But it was still a secret no one knew about, and if her dreams were to be trusted—which they were—not even the Hokage did, other than what her ancestors deliberately dropped through the grapevine to create their legend.

Yet, at least Clan people had the decency not to question another’s quirks, since they all had it. Ino knew for a fact there was an Aburame in her class.

So the children with whom Ino used to hang out with started teasing her about her plants after a while when they caught sight of her talking to them. They asked if she was looking for attention, and that she probably just liked them because of the shop.

Intellectually, she knew they did it mostly because they didn’t know any better, but it still irked her. They always kept it up until she was arguing with them about how it wasn’t the truth, that she just found fascinating the stories they could tell. And maybe Ino shouldn’t say that, because, _secret,_ but not many would read too much into it since she was already taking kunoichi classes and all that. And if by any chance someone were to suspect anything, they didn’t have any proof other than a kid talking to the flowers on the street.

It went on for a while, until one day she finally had enough and made a group of boys cry when one of them said her mom’s flowers weren’t even that good, and why weeds anyway, why couldn’t she just like the pretty flowers like all the other girls?

Mama berated and forced her to apologize when one of the kids’ mother went up to the compound and told her.

Ino was annoyed. _They deserved it!_ But did as told. Not before the kid apologized first, of course, because she wasn’t completely at fault and there had been others that could attest to what the kid had said.

They didn’t know, wouldn’t understand. Ino was fine with that, they didn’t have to. Flowers and seeds and saplings were her thing, hers in a way that none of them could ever dream of, and she was glad for it.

They were hers, and they didn’t have to be anyone else’s.

 

* * *

 

When Dad came back from a mission a week later and Mom told him, the next morning there was a new pot on her bedside table.

It was a really pretty navy blue, with a little saffron crocus in it that made her giggle when she saw it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Saffron crocus: mirth.


	7. Chapter 7

To fall asleep on her rooftop was dangerous, especially because of her father’s position within T&I and her status as Clan Heiress.

She still did, because she trusted her dreams to alert her and nature to protect her. She wasn’t being trained to master the deadliest abilities she had as a Yamanaka yet, but that didn’t mean she was defenseless.

At night was when she was strongest, stardust sharpening her instincts and her core empowered creativity. The lovely wisteria just outside her window was proof of it.

There used to be nothing planted in that spot until the commotion of the winter when she was three, after all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wisteria: “ _the abundance of the Wisteria flowering vine signifies our own expanding consciousness._ ”
> 
> All parts of the Japanese Wisteria are poisonous. However, the bean-like seeds are especially poisonous. Ingesting even two of them can cause serious poisoning in a child. Unless you’re Ino, of course.


	8. Chapter 8

Ino defended Naruto because kids were cruel and she knew it firsthand. That it didn’t affect _her_ as much as it could didn’t mean it didn’t hurt somebody else, and her parents hadn’t raised her to look the other way when someone looked close to bursting into tears.

“ _What_ do you _think_ you’re doing?” A shiver ran through the backs of those who managed not to jump at the icy edge in her voice.

Everyone’s attention snapped to her in a second, the bullies momentarily forgetting about Naruto who had been cornered in broad daylight, not even pretending to hide from witnesses.

She had just stepped out of the tea store across the street when she spotted the commotion, stopping for a second to see what was all the fuss about. It was then that she caught sight of the bright blond mop standing out amidst the dull, dark colors around it.

What made her jump into action, had her blood boiling in ire, was that everyone went about their business as if nothing was happening, and those who had seemed like they might interfere, took one look at who the bullies had cornered and looked away instantly.

That wouldn’t do.

Ino prowled towards the kids harassing Naruto with the confidence of a princess and the lethality of a snow leopard about to leap onto a prey and rip off its throat.

“T-This is none of your business, Ino!” A boy she vaguely recalled from school said.

She narrowed her eyes dangerously and four of the five kids took a step back, one of them almost colliding with Naruto if they hadn’t almost tripped with the boy next to them when they moved at the same time. The one that stayed in his place looked at her with false bravado even though his hands were shaking.

“Get out of here before I make any of you cry again,” she said, her eyes squinted.

They didn’t even protest, though she saw a couple of them gritting their teeth as they backed off.

She knew that, over the next few days, they would hesitate to mess with Naruto because they knew what was good for them. Even if it was only when Ino was around, it was progress.

They _still_ were avoiding her—and Shika, for that matter—after she cornered each and all of the mean kids who had been rude to Chouji, after all.

Ino took off the four-leaf clover tucked in her hair and slid it into the pocket of the orange menace of a jumper, pretending she didn’t notice the way Naruto flinched slightly when she got too close.

“Here’s for you to avoid them,” she told him, a secret smile on her face. “May it help you go around them.”

She didn’t leave until she was confident the hesitant, sweet and confused little tilt of his lips wouldn’t disappear so easily the next time someone called him names.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Four-leaf clover: Each leaf in the clover symbolizes good omens for faith, hope, love, and luck for the finder.


	9. Chapter 9

That was supposed to be the end of it, but it seemed like it had been the small push the floodgates needed to burst open, because after that they kept running into each other even if they weren’t trying to.

(And, okay, _sometimes_ she did try to, but she was just making sure everything was in line. Nothing more.)


	10. Chapter 10

The Naka River was situated in Uchiha territory, but if you cut through Nara land you could reach a beautiful patch of more-or-less neutral ground.

It was so lively, so green and with darling wildflowers that loved their land so much they spent their time humming their affection to the earth beneath them in return, and Ino adored them.

Shikamaru had introduced it to her as one of his “less used hideouts” that he had “no longer use for” now that he had found his definitive cloud-gazing spot.

Of course, Ino knew that was only half true. Shika didn’t need to know how the little irises near the river bank thrilled in her insides like chiming bells, telling her that Shikamaru had indeed been planning on abandoning the place, but that he let it slip once how much Ino would love the place if she knew of it.

The long suffering sigh he let out when Ino threw herself into his arms had nothing on the almost unnoticeable smile she knew he hid into her hair when he hugged her back.

In the summer or when she was in the mood, she liked to go dip her feet there and see the dragonflies eat mosquitoes with a vindictive sort of satisfaction. In one of her trips, Naruto had been washing his jumpsuits near Ino’s spot, and they both froze at the sight of each other.

After a moment of hesitation Naruto went back to scrubbing his clothes, Ino staring at him for a second before shrugging it off.

She sat under the tree nearest to the edge of the river, the one with the small irises growing around it, and took off her sandals. Ino sat there, shaded by the thick leaves and enjoying the peaceful silence for a few minutes. By the time she opened her eyes Naruto was on his third jumpsuit and the sun reached her a little under the knees.

She caressed the small little flowers in acknowledgment and smiled when they preened under her touch. When she looked up Naruto was looking at her in surprise, and Ino had the sneaking suspicion that he knew what exactly she was doing.

Ino stared at him contemplatively, but didn’t say anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Irises: “ _I have a message for you._ ”


	11. Chapter 11

The Hokage Mountain wasn’t really a surprise.

It was only logical for them to see one another sooner or later, after years of skirted around each other.

It was the best place to see the sun set down, and Ino wasn’t about to give up her spot, so they might as well just share it.

They sat in silence, watching the sky changing colors, going from blues to oranges to purples, until it was a pretty canvas of watercolors. Naruto kept side glancing at her—not so much to make it weird, but enough to make her notice the way his eyes drifted once or twice to the juice box in her hand.

“I have an extra in here, you know?” Ino pointed to the bag sitting between them.

Naruto flinched a little. He looked like one of Shika’s deer friends when they were caught off guard. She made a mental note to take it slow; after everything that had been done to him, Naruto was in all his right to be wary when someone was kind to him, no matter how sad it made her.

She just couldn’t understand why someone would be as cruel as the people of the village were when it came to him.


	12. Chapter 12

That was the day she officially met Naruto.

Naruto, who was hesitant at first, like he couldn’t believe she was nice to him, all bright baby blue eyes and hopeful expression hidden under suspicion. Who had keen ears and listened to why she found enthralling how small organic lives could symbolize endless of things at once, who loved how bright or soft their colours could be just as much as she did, and the way you could make a message come across through them.

(She kept him around after that.)


	13. Chapter 13

The little blooms scattered around Academy grounds were the chattiest peeps Ino had to encounter yet.

Maybe because they were surrounded by enthusiastic kids and noise, which encouraged them in return to talk to each other since nobody could hear them. They always had something to say, something to get excited about, and liked to tell her about whatever they had heard that they found interesting.

They were so cute and pure. Ino loved them and wanted to protect them at all costs.

It had never occurred to her to wonder what Naruto did for lunch at school until she caught a conversation between those little ones, a few daisies, saying they liked the child of nature that smelt like _sunshine,_ and Ino immediately knew who they were talking about, her suspicions confirmed.

Ino, too, was a child of nature, after all.

So she told Chouji and Shika where to find her, took the books Shikamaru always carried in his bag but never read in the open when he could be napping instead, and went to fetch Naruto.

This was how her friends found her when they came back with their hands full of snacks: smiling softly at the blond leafing through the Nara books with natural remedies written inside, calm expression but fierce determination glinting in her eyes.

It was a testament to their friendship how unfazed they seemed by the new addition, as if it was a long way coming.

Next to her Naruto stared in awe at the colourful illustrations drawn over the pages, Shikamaru’s head resting on her lap, and Chouji was talking animatedly, telling her about the butterflies he saw on their way to the store.

In that moment, Ino knew she would always try her best protect them. She would trade her life for theirs, her heart for theirs, her mind for theirs.

It should have been scary, coming to this realization. Specially when she was the one who loved her independence the most. But it felt only natural, as if she had already come to terms with the idea.

She wouldn’t be surprised she had. She’d seen it in her visions and dreams, where time and time again she had been reassured that they would do just as much and even more for her.

They were her little made-up family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daisies: innocence.

**Author's Note:**

> Don’t be afraid to tell me anything you might like, guys! or to leave constructive feedback. :)


End file.
